The Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, until now relatively silent on a potential prisoner release agreement with Hamas, on Tuesday called on the Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, to resign with him from the government if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approves the deal. “This is a capitulation agreement to Hamas,” Ben Gvir said in a video released after several meetings with Netanyahu in recent days.
“I call on my colleague, Minister Bezalel Smotrich, to join me and cooperate against this capitulation agreement against Hamas,” he added, explaining that his party, Otzma Yehudit, cannot alone block the ‘agreement. “I propose that we go together to see the Prime Minister and tell him that if he validates this agreement, we will leave the government,” he declared.
In a long tweet, Ben Gvir admitted having succeeded in the past, “thanks to our political strength, in preventing this agreement from materializing, again and again.” A statement that contrasts with Netanyahu’s repeated denials over the past year, asserting that Israel had not disrupted any agreements.
For his part, Smotrich also announced his opposition to the deal on Monday, calling it a “catastrophe for Israel’s security.” “We will not be part of a capitulation agreement that includes the release of terrorists, an end to the war and the abandonment of many prisoners,” he tweeted.
The two ministers’ statements come as Netanyahu summoned Ben Gvir and Smotrich on Sunday to lay the groundwork for a prisoner release deal, hoping to rally their support. But even without their support, the government has a majority to validate the agreement.
The leader of the opposition, Yair Lapid, reacted by accusing Ben Gvir of having “sacrificed prisoners for political gain”. The cousin of Carmel Gat, killed in captivity with five other prisoners, called on Netanyahu and Smotrich not to give in to “the bloody blackmail” of Ben Gvir.